Dynamic Beamforming for Head-Wearable Speech Clarity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current consumer electronic devices, such as mobile phones and computers, face challenges in voice communication due to environmental noise interference, which degrades the quality of speech captured by microphone ports or headsets.
Innovation Solution
A head-wearable apparatus with dual microphone arrays on eyeglasses that performs dynamic beamforming to steer microphones towards the user's mouth, enhancing speech content while attenuating noise through real-time audio processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single microphone is used to capture speech, then the device structure is simple, but environmental noise degrades speech quality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the single microphone function into multiple microphones arranged in arrays. Specifically, it uses multiple microphones positioned at different locations to capture speech from different directions, then processes these segmented signals through beamforming to isolate the desired speech source while rejecting environmental noise.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple microphone signals through beamforming processing to achieve noise reduction. By merging the signals from multiple microphones with appropriate weighting and phase adjustment, the system creates a combined output that enhances speech quality while suppressing environmental noise.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If multiple microphones are used to reduce noise, then speech quality improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic beamforming where the beam direction and weights are continuously adjusted based on the speaker's position and environmental conditions. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maintain optimal noise reduction performance while accommodating movements of the user or speakers, reducing the need for excessive hardware complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The beamforming system automatically adapts to changing acoustic environments and speaker positions without requiring manual intervention. The system self-adjusts the beam directions and weights based on real-time signal processing, eliminating the need for complex manual configuration while maintaining effective noise reduction.
3Device complexity
If fixed beam direction is used, then processing is simple, but speech quality degrades when speaker moves
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from fixed beamforming to dynamic beamforming where the beam direction continuously tracks the speaker's position. The system updates beam weights and directions in real-time based on detected speaker location, ensuring consistent speech quality even when the speaker moves within the capture area.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from the microphone array to detect speaker position and adjusts beamforming parameters accordingly. By continuously monitoring the acoustic environment and speaker location, the system provides real-time feedback to the beamforming processor, which then adapts the beam directions to maintain optimal speech capture.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Improves the signal-to-noise ratio by effectively reducing environmental noise and secondary speaker interference, resulting in clearer voice communication.
Implementation Method 1
Beamformers can steer the microphones arrays on each side the frame towards the user's face or mouth
Data Source
AI summary
Method to perform dynamic beamforming to reduce SNR in signals captured by head-wearable apparatus starts with microphones generating acoustic signals. Microphones are coupled to first stem of the apparatus and to second stem of the apparatus. First and second beamformers generate first and second beamformer signals, respectively. Noise suppressor attenuates noise content from the first beamformer signal and the second beamformer signal. Noise content from first beamformer signal are acoustic signals not collocated in second beamformer signal and noise content from second beamformer signal are acoustic signals not collocated in first beamformer signal. Speech enhancer generates clean signal comprising speech content from first noise-suppressed signal and second noise-suppressed signal. Speech content are acoustic signals collocated in first beamformer signal and second beamformer signal.